Neighbors

Chapter 2

The walk home was terrible.

I didn't know if the kid, Sam, had went inside, or was staring at me, or rather, my butt, the entire time I walked up my hilly little driveway.

Don't be staring at me, don't be staring at me...

That was all that my mind was feeding me. Over and over that played.

Finally, when I got to the top of my drive way, I looked back, and saw that he had gone inside.

Thank The Lord in Heaven. I mentally sighed.

I open the front door, our own screen door not as well kept as theirs, with some bugs stuck on it, and walk into the foyer.

"How'd it go?" I hear my mom call from the kitchen to me. "They aren't, like... Gluten free or anything right?"

"Funny you should ask that." I mutter, sliding into on of our bar stools facing into the kitchen.

She turns around and looks at me, her eyes wide. "They weren't..!" She comes up to me and pats my cheek, "Oh, honey, I'm so sorry."

I was going to take the sympathy, until I saw that she was containing a laugh.

"No, they aren't. And yes, it went okay." I think, "Except for the part where I had to meet her son, Sam who is the same age as me, and just as awkward."

"That's not very nice." My mother purses her lips, her elbows resting on the bar. "No one could be as awkward as you."

I roll my eyes, but cannot contain the smile spreading onto my lips, "You're not a very nice mother." I say, slapping her arm lightly.

She chuckles, and feigns hurt, cradling her arm.

"Yes, but I'm your Not Very Nice Mother." She says, taking on the title.

Just then, my little brother Eddy comes into the room, his hair a crazy afro, and his eyes having bags under neath them.

"Why do you have to beat up on our mother?" Eddy says, sarcastically, but also monotonously, blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

"Did you just get up?" I ask, bewildered.

"What? I heard that you grow taller if you sleep more. Also I like to take advantage of the schedule of summer... Free." He says, sliding into the bar stool next to me.

"Ew, you haven't even brushed your teeth yet!" I say, shoving his shoulder.

He opens his mouth, and breathes onto me. I quickly turn away, take a gulp of fresh air from the other side, and hold my breath.

Once I don't hear any more breathing, and my mother scolding Eddy, I turn to face him again, a look of triumph on my face.

He purses his lips at me, but a smile was sneaking up on him.

"Go get dressed and I'll take you somewhere fun." I say, slouching onto the bar.

"I don't like it when you drive." Eddy whines.

"But you like it when Finn drives!?" I ask.

I didn't understand. I was such a better driver than Finn. I almost had my license too.

"Whatever." I mutter, giving up.

If he liked having a bad driver, than let it be!

"I still want to go do something fun though, so go get Finn. We'll have him drive us around."

"Okay." He murmurs, slinking out of the bar stool.

Once he's gone, my mom looks at me. "Taking charge... I like it." She smirks.

"He's my little brother. What am I supposed to do? Let him get away with everything?" I smirk right back.

Just then, footsteps clamber into the kitchen.

Finn. My thoughts immediately think. No human could clunk around that loud without being my 6 foot 4 tall brother, Finn.

"Whassup?" He slurs, sliding into the bar stool that was just recently occupied by Eddy.

"Let's go do something." I say, sliding around in my bar stool to face him, my hands on my knees, and my back still in a slouch.

Thinking about it, I sit up straight.

"Like what?" He smirks, "Go to Chuck-E-Cheese? Isn't that where your people hang out?"

I frown at him, "No, I'm pretty sure that's where your people hang out to get a summer job."

"Ouch." My mom intervenes comically, "Where's the popcorn?"

Both me and Finn spin around in our bar stools to glare at her. She just smiles, and skips off to the bowl of grapes she just washed.

"Okay," Finn thinks, "Whaddya wanna do?"

"I dunno, whaddya wanna do?" I reply.

"Go to the beach?"

"Too cliche."

"Go to the movies?"

"No money..."

"Go to the park?"

"Too hot."

"Well than what do you want to do?" He asks, frowning at me. "And since when was the beach cliche?"

"The beach sounds good!" Eddy calls in from the other room.

"Yeah!" Finn smiles. "The beach sounds good." He mocks me.

I narrow my eyes at him, but then cross my arms, "Good luck getting a parking space."

"Thanks." He snorts back at me.

And suddenly it's a glare off. The testosterone (not only males produce testosterone!) flying through the air was suffocating, each of us wanting to beat the other one down.

"Brat." Finn finally backs down.

"Jerk." I fire back.

But then he's smiling faintly at me, almost looking proud. I can't stay mad at my brothers. I never understood people who didn't get along with their siblings, sure we fight and stuff, but we never stay mad at each other for more than a few minutes. Hours at the most.

"Ready?" Eddy says, coming out with sun screen plastered over his nose, and his dark legs showing with his swim trunks on.

"Almost." Me and Finn say simultaneously.

"Lemme just get my bathing suit on, then we can go." I say, hopping off the bar stool, I'm pretty sure half of my skin ripping off.

"Ditto." Finn says, and we both walk into the hallway, and part ways at our bed room's doors.